Carthage College Top Questions

If I could give my high school self advice before attending college it would be this: Start with an undecided major—a clean slate. Do not be pressured by people asking, “What will your major be?” or “What are you going to be when you grow up?” If you do not, these pressures will cause you to pick something that you are not truly passionate about. You will find out that what you are studying is not a good fit for you and you will virtually waste a semester and a half of credits. Instead, give yourself the opportunity to experiment, explore, and try new things. You will discover a major and minor combination that you will be very excited about. Branch out and find something that you are good at, have a passion for, and look forward to doing the rest of your life. Just remember, don’t rush into any decision about your major. Take classes you never thought you would be interested in. You might be surprised at what you learn—about the course and about yourself.

Advice that I would give myself as a high school senior would be to start buying the material you need whether it is for the dorm, books, or other school material, start buying things early because it gets to be very expensive and really add up over time. I would also say to try to find and meet incoming freshman as well, so when you get to school you know some people that you can hang out with, instead of not knowing anyone.

If I could go back in time to my senior year I would tell myself to go out more. The more experiances that I would have gotten outside of high school would have made me realize that it was better for me to stay home and further my education at Shelton State Community College rather than go off to a far away college. It took me three moths to realize that to stay home was better for me than to go away.

dont give up

Knowing what I have discovered about college life, I would give my high school self some advice. The main piece is about studying. During high school, I had not focused on studying of my material. I figured that I could just go into a test and not have to go back and look at what I needed to know for a test. In college, studying is a necessity for success. A student is expected to know material from the book and the notes the professor gives. Personal time is something a student needs in college as well. Never did I get a lot of time to myself in my younger years since I was always with my friends or family. College takes a student away from family and friends. They are forced to make new ones. College life is different from the simpler high school life. I should have stayed more focused and given myself some personal time to make the transition to college a little easier.

Knowing what I know now about college life, I would have told myself in high school to visit more than one or two colleges that I was interested in. I would have also prepared better financially, and applied for more scholarships, so that I could live on campus and be a part of the community instead of commuting to Kenosha from Chicago and feeling like an outsider. I would also have probably told myself that it was smart to first go to a community college and then transfer, especially since even nearing junior status I haven't firmly decided on a major. It is important to be confident in yourself and not to let a negative attitude reign over enjoying life. It is important to sympathize with other's struggles, and try to help them get through it, but don't let that hinder you in appreciating happiness for youself.

The best advice I could give my high school self is to focus. Focus on what you want in life, focus on what you desire to do, focus on the future and where your degree could take you, and last but not least focus on success. School is fun and exciting but it is still work. When you focus on the fundamentals of education and not just on the fun you will be more successful. Without focus you will blindly walk the path of college collecting credits yet not moving forward. In the end you will find you will have a pretty framed piece of paper but not a degree and no job outlook in the field you desire. So focus. Learn to do this now and you will find yourself being able to accomplish anything you desire to do.

I would tell myself to keep my old freinds close they really help you a lot and its nice to have someone to talk to when things ar achool are hard. Becoues school will be hard for them to we all need to help each other and its a good way. Also just becoues your smart know doesnt mean college will be easy its a lot of work and you have to be willing to put that work in. Its ok to do bad in a class you can always try agian or know that its not they trype for you. But one thing that you should do is not give up you shouled give it all you have and never stop. Being yourself is a big thing not eveyone is doing bad things and its all up to you as to what you do. Your bound to change a bit but how much and for better or worse its all up to you and only you. so know what you want to be and what you want to be like try new things. That you want to try not becoues someone wants you to.

If I had the opprotunity to talk to my high school self, I would focus on telling myself that the future is going to be difficult but rewarding. There have been many points in my college carreer where I have been overwhelmed with extracurriculars, classes, and part-time work but I have always found a way to manage my time and get through those tough times. Looking back at these particular events, I sometimes wish that I would not have been so axious about what had to be done and focused more on what I was doing. In many events I feel that I have put excessive pressure on myself as a perfectionist, and if my high school self would have understood what potential I had and how successful I really was at that time as a student, I do not believe that I would have been as anxious in the future. To tell my high school self to relax, live life, and continue to hold on to lifetime goals would have been benefitial mostly to my own peice of mind; it would continue to strengthen the personal persistence I have to learn and help others.

Don't forget how to study, and experiment now on which ways of studying is the most useful for you. Make sure that you come to college with a planned out budget, and stick to it. Start practicing smart money management skills now so it won't be such a shock when you get to college and have to tighten your belt. Be confident in your social skills, and know that the first few weeks of college life will be uncomfortable. Remember your close friends and stay in contact with them, but don't rely on them when they are so far away. Be open to making new friends, and in the beginning of school, be super nice to everyone. Figure out what you enjoy doing now so you can get involved with it somehow on campus. Jump into clubs and organizations right away to put yourself out there.